Starting Over
by Mrs. Shemar Moore 101010
Summary: Warning: references to rape and physical abuse. Derek goes to Chicago on a case and finds an old friend in need. They soon realize their attraction for each other, but must deal with her abusive ex first. Bad at summaries and titles, please read anyway!
1. Not 'the victims'

The team had just come back to Chicago for yet another case. Considering what he had to face last time he visited his hometown, Derek was not too happy about it. But at the moment he was a bit distracted. As he and the team started heading up the stairs to the police station, he spotted her. Well, from behind anyway. The sexiest woman he had ever seen, truly. Only a few strands of her perfect blonde hair showed from where it was up under her black hat. She stood at about 5'4" and most of that height seemed to be her legs. She was extremely curvy, with a full and perfect behind that he couldn`t help but stare at as she walked up the stairs. Suddenly she turned and caught his eye.

"Derek!" she exclaimed and came running back down the steps. He held his breath. The first thing he saw was her trimmed waist and large breasts, but as soon as her looked up her felt guilty for checking her out, because he realized who she was.

"Luella!" he said and gave a joyous smile as she hugged him tightly.

When he pulled back and started to say how great she looked, he finally took a good look at her and saw something that upset him beyond words. His best childhood friend was covered in bruises. They were all over her face and neck. The rest of her body was covered with long pants and a long-sleeved shirt with multiple animal prints in black and white.

"What the hell?" he basically growled, "Who did this?"

"I think I might be able to help you with your case..." she said, fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt to avoid looking at him.

"Well then why don`t you come inside with us?" Hotch said, finally catching up to Morgan.

She nodded sadly, not even looking up to see who was talking to her. Morgan immediately noticed this. She had easily become so popular and well liked in high school because of how she made everyone feel important and cared about. She did the same for him, even when he was getting picked on freshman year. She didn`t care who it was, she started and continued conversations easily, and always made eye contact. He quickly decided that he would talk to her later, for now they needed to find out who did this. If it was their unsub, she was lucky to be alive.

She followed him into the room that had been desginated for the team. They were discussing victimology.

"There seems to be no connection between the victims at all," Reid was saying, "A white brunette, an Asian woman, and an African American woman... they were all around the same age, but that`s not a very specific type."

"He`s killing off my friends," Luella stated, her voice a mixture of fear, hatred, and guilt. Still she sounded sure, "And their names were Angela, Riley, and Diane, not 'the victims.'"

"Your friends from college?" Derek asked, a little bit surprised. He`d never heard of an unsub doing this, and he certainly wasn`t happy that he was doing it to his best friend, who had always treated him better than anyone else ever had.

"Do you have a name?" Rossi asked.

"Darren Cole," this time she looked at him.

"Darren?" Derek was shocked, "Darren from the football team?"

"You knew I was living with him; we`ve been together since you moved to Virginia."

"Well you didn`t tell me he was beating you!"

She looked down, ashamed, "Derek, why did you think I could only call you on weekends when he went to his cabin? He wouldn`t let me talk to anyone, so I called everyone when he left."

Derek was fuming, more angry than he could ever remember being in his life. "Where`s the cabin?" Derek finally asks; it sounded demanding and angry and she flinched.

"I don`t know. But I followed him once when he said he was going there, and he picked up some red-head before heading out of the city. They...they kissed. He was cheating on me but I was too afraid to bring it up. I can tell you where she lives."

She told them and they brought her in for questioning. Luella stood and watched her walk in. She was beautiful, that was for sure, but so much younger than Darren. And then she asked if she could call her parents, and Luella went pale. How old was she? Well JJ asked her that same question and the girl replied that she had just turned 15.

Suddenly Luella felt sick. She had watched her boyfriend go off with a child to take advantage of her. She had only seen the long legs and red hair, and of course never thought that the woman- no, the girl- was so young. She literally felt sick because she was so disgusted and angry with herself.


	2. Dont freak out, ok?

Derek walked over to her and led her into an interrogation room while the team tried to find out where the cabin was from Darren`s young lover.

"The team and I agree that since we`re old friends, I should be the one to talk to you," he tried to look into her eyes but she avoided his gaze.

"I didn`t know she was that young..." she didn`t sound like she was attempting to defend herself, she just sounded very sad.

"I know, she said she never met you. Can you tell me what set Darren off?"

"I`m what set him." He waited for her to continue, and she sighed and sat down. "Derek, don`t freak out ok?"

He nodded and sat down across from her. She felt weird, being in an interrogation room with her best friend asking the questions. She knew she wasn`t under arrest and it was the only quiet place to go, but even so it felt strange for the good girl who never caused a problem in her life to be in this position.

"He`s been violent with me ever since my dad went away, but-"

"Where did your dad go?" Derek asked gently, his eyes soft and caring. He had known her family, and how close they were. He didn`t think her dad would leave without a very good reason.

She shook her head, "It doesn`t matter; when all this is over I`ll tell you, I promise."

"I`m holding you to that," he said. He talked to her on the phone every week, so he was surprised she hadn`t mentioned it.

She smiled that beautiful, warm smile of hers and continued slowly, "He would hit me, but he never... forced himself on me. Until a couple nights ago," ignoring Derek`s horrified look, she kept going with her story, "He said that my cooking was bad, and I told him that I was a chef at my mom`s five-star restaurant for nearly ten years before she died. He got mad and said that I was talking back to him," she closed her eyes and a tear spilled out.

Derek held her hand across the table. It was the first time anyone besides Darren had touched her in years and she was happy for a fleeting moment, before remembering where she was and what was happening. "Go on," Derek urged, "It might help us catch him."

"Darren knew that I... didn`t want to have anal sex with him, so that`s what he forced me to do. And I was really mad at him, of course. I even stormed into the bedroom and packed my bags, it was the last straw for me. When I came back out and said that I was leaving, he punched me in the stomach. It certainly wasn`t the first time though and I thought I`d be fine, but then he grabbed the baseball bat that we always kept by the front door..." her voice trailed off and Derek clenched his jaw against his fury. "I barely got away, I think he thought I was knocked out or dead, so he went to take a shower, and I somehow found the strength to get up and out the front door. And then that night I find out that one of my friends was beaten to death with a baseball bat, and two more today. I was just coming to tell the police that I thought it was Darren when you guys showed up... I`m glad I could tell you and not a total stranger, but I can tell that you`re mad."

"I`m mad at him, not you," Derek clarified; her remembered how she always felt guilty if she thought she had made someone angry or upset, and he could see that same guilt in her face now, "How many more friends might he go after?"

"Well five more women, and then you and Eric. Eric`s addicted to cocaine now, I have no idea where he is, but I`ll write down the addresses of everyone else." Derek was about to leave to get some paper and a pencil when she said, "And you. You better stay here. He hates you the most."

"Why?" Derek asked, his curiousity taking over instead of his anger, for the time being.

She smiled at him; it was a smile that had always comforted him for years. He didn`t know anyone who didn`t love her beautiful smile. "The first time I really had a conversation with Darren was back in high school. I asked him if you seemed interested in me at all, and he told me that you were always talking about some cheerleader, so I went with him to Senior prom instead. And we`ve been together ever since, but he`s always been really jealous of you. Of course it didn`t help when-" she cut herself off and turned bright red. Oops, she had told this story to all eight of her girlfriends so many times, that the last part just slipped because she was used to telling that part too.

Derek smirked at her, "When...?"

She laughed. She had always been up front with people, why should this be any different? "I was thinking about you, out loud I guess," she smiled again, mischeviously this time, "while I, umm... you know, when I thought he was gone but he had just gotten back."

Derek smiled widely, "How long ago was this?" he asked.

"I couple weeks ago," she blushed, more than he had ever seen her blush, and giggled.

He put an arm around her shoulders and whispered in her ear, "You`ll have to tell me what exactly you were thinking about after the case." He winked and her heart started beating faster. All uncertainity drifted away and she was suddenly very happy she had told him about it.

He moved toward the door to get her a pencil and paper, but just before he left he turned back, "I wasn`t always talking about some cheerleader, I was too focused on you. He just made that up."


	3. Am I allowed to kiss you?

The team was splitting up and taking as many local cops and detectives as they could with them to each of Luella`s friends` houses. Luella wandered out of the interrogation room a few minutes after Derek. She used those few minutes to say a private prayer for her friends. She was a religious Jewish girl, but had learned not to preach to anyone in middle school, where she was beat up for saying something the wrong way and accidently insulting a Christain girl. But now that she was done with her praying, she walked out and nearly burst into tears at what she saw. Derek putting on a bullet-proof vest along with the other agents, detectives, and cops.

"Derek," she said tearfully, walking over to him, "I thought you were going to stay here since, you know, he hates you more than anybody."

He shook his head, but didn`t turn to look at her. "This bastard _raped_ you and almost beat you to death. We`re going to find him, its the only way to keep you and your friends safe."

"So tell them to get a SWAT team or something, why do you have to go?"

"SWAT`s going to meet us at whichever house we spot him at," Hotch assurred.

"With all due respect Agent Hotchner, I don`t think its a good idea-"

"This is my job," Derek said, finally looking down at her. At 6 foot 1, he towered over her. If it were Darren, she would have been nervous, intimidated, but she was still able to trust Derek.

She looked back and saw that Hotchner had moved to the other side of the room, "What hotel are you staying at?"

He shook his head, "Honey, I would _love_ for you to come over, but I`m on a job. I can`t. Maybe I`ll try to stay for an extra week when we find Darren."

"Am I allowed to kiss you?" she asked in a hushed voice, sounding both innocent and hopeful. He looked around and saw all the agents around him, but he couldn`t resist, so held her arm and led her around a corner. She rested her back against the wall and he placed his hands on the wall on either side of her head. She stood on tip-toes to try and reach up for a kiss, but he pulled away and smiled at her teasingly, before bending his head down to meet her lips. At first the kiss seemed innocent, but in a matter of seconds, he was slipping his tongue into her mouth and gently rubbing it against her tongue, then exploring the rest of her mouth just as gently. He was being so gentle for two reasons: she had been through a lot and he didn`t want to scare her, and he knew if he got too passionate about it, he wouldn`t want to leave with the other agents in a few minutes. She stopped being nervous and moved her tongue against his. He made a sound that was half moan, half hum, and moved one hand from the wall onto her breast. He carressed her through her shirt and bra. And she moaned and pushed herself closer to him. Her hands were on his face, holding him there, but she moved one to his chest, hoping to feel muscles, but instead felt his bullet proof vest, so she moved the hand around his neck and pulled him even closer. He slid his other hand down her back until it was on her butt, which he had been admiring earlier out on the steps. His smiled into the kiss when he felt her gasp a little into his mouth.

He`d wanted to do this since his freshman year of high school, when she was taller than he was, and he was being beat up everyday. At the time he thought it would never happen, but now it really was. Until, of course, they were interrupted when they felt someone`s presence near them. For a moment they were both afraid to look, but then in unison they both turned their heads to see who it was. Not Hotch, thank goodness. Reid stood there awkwardly and he was blushing and stammering.

"Uh..uh...umm.. w-we`re going now..."

Derek laughed, "Ok, pretty boy, let`s go." He turned to follow Reid back to the rest of the group, but then quickly gave Luella a kiss on the lips, and looked into her pale green eyes suggestively, before walking away.

Luella had to stand there for a few moments to gather her thoughts and catch her breath. She had only been kissed two other times before that. The first one was Darren and the other one, she preferred not to think about. But this was better than she ever thought a kiss could be and there were definitely sparks. She smiled as she thought about how great it had felt to have his hands on her. The best thing was, unlike Darren, she knew he would never make her do something she didn`t want to do and he would never start using her as a punching bag when he got mad. She knew she was safe with him. And yeah, he was a player, but she had to believe that it was more than that this time, even if it was just wishful thinking.


	4. She left you man

Agent Rossi and his group were at the first house, where they found another woman dead. When Derek and his group arrived at the second woman`s house and burst in, she was 'cooking,' although he smelled more like she was burning everything. She screamed as the agents came through the door, but after a thorough search of the house, they found she was the only one there and they took her back to the police station, where Luella gratefully hugged both her and Derek at the same time, so relieved that they were safe and there had been no problems. Reid and his group of cops and detectives were the only ones to see any action. The woman`s car was missing from the driveway, but when they stormed the house they found their unsub waiting for her in her bedroom. He only had a bat with him, so he was taken into custody fairly easily. By looking at him it was clear that Luella went for tall, muscular guys. He was about the same height as Morgan and almost as muscular. But that was as far as the similarities went; their unsub was a white man of Italian descent.

Reid walked into the police station first, and gave Morgan a look that said they`d caught Darren Cole. "Come on, let`s take you in the back," Derek said to Luella, but his eyes stayed clued to the door and neither of them moved before a police officer led Darren in in handcuffs, with Hotch and Rossi on either side of the killer.

Darren sneered at Luella. "You fucking c*nt. See what happens when you try to leave me? Now half your friends are dead. Bitch, you-"

"Come on," Rossi said impatiently, grabbing him by the arm and shoving him foward, into the interrogation room.

Tears ran down Luella`s face. Of course she felt guilty, if she hadn`t have pissed him off, four of her closest friends would be alive. Derek wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she cried into the side of his chest for a good ten minutes. Then she started taking deep shaky breaths, trying to calm herself down. She knew that Derek wanted to get into the interrogation room with him; she didn`t like the idea, but Prentiss had explained to her that if he really hated Derek so much, it would be easier to get him to slip up and confess. Derek led her to a chair near one of the officer`s desks and sat her down. He crouched down next to her and looked into her face.

"You gonna be ok? Hey, look at me. Are you alright?"

She sighed and shook her head no. He hugged her, "I know its against the rules, but I`ll talk to Hotch and see if you can stay with me tonight, ok?" She nodded, still upset, but comforted a bit.

JJ walked over, "Derek, they want you in the interrogation room."

"Stay with her," Derek told JJ, and then he stood up and walked toward the interrogation room with a file in his left hand, and his other hand balled into a fist. He had to take a few deep breaths so he could have enough control not to beat this man to a pulp.

Finally gathering himself, he walked in. He didn`t even have time to drop the file on the table before Darren was on his feet.

"You fucker, stay away from my girlfriend."

Derek wanted to push this guys buttons; the great part is that`s exactly what he was supposed to do. "She left you man."

"What, because of you?" he looked Derek up and down, sizing him up and trying to intimidate him.

"She`s a really good kisser you know..."

"You fucking bastard!" he shouted, moving around the table towards Derek. A cop started for the door so he could get Darren back in his seat but Hotch stopped him. Derek and Darren stood at nearly identical heights; Derek may have been just a little bit taller, but no more than half an inch. Derek walked to meet him in the middle of the interrogation room. The two men stood so close that they were almost touching. Neither of them would back down by breaking eye contact. Darren threw a punch, but Derek took a half-step back and dodged it, before shoving Darren hard into the table.

"So why did you kill those women, Darren?"

"The bitch deserved it."

"You barely even knew them, you stole Luella`s address book to find them. It was missing from the apartment."

"I don`t mean they deserve it; I mean they do too, but Luella`s going to have to bury four friends," he smirked wickedly, "She`ll learn not to cross me again."

Derek forced out a sarcastic 'ha,' this guy actually thought he would get Luella back. "A little late, don`t you think? She`ll be staying with me for a while," Derek said this in a way that made his intentions clear. Luella was his now. He didn`t even have to lie to get into this guy`s head.

Darren jumped back up, "You tell that little bitch that she`s making a big mistake!"

"Is that a threat, Darren?" Derek moved in this time. Mere inches from this man who he loathed more than anyone else.

"To you," he said simply and smugly.

"I`m not scared of you, Darren," Derek answered. A small smile played across his face as he saw Darren realize that this was one person he couldn`t intimidate.

"I`m gonna kill you man, just wait and see!"

Derek was about to answer when he voice came over the intercom. It was Hotch.

"Alright, we`ve got we need Derek."

Derek smirked and raised an eyebrow at the unsub, just to piss him off on last time before he left.


	5. Lets get back to the hotel

**A/N:**** Warning: this is where the 'M' rating starts!**

Hotch wouldn`t let Luella stay with Derek, but said that if he wanted to start his time off now, and pay for his own room, he could do whatever he wants. So Derek went with Luella to her apartment and was about to follow her in, but she froze in the doorway and he almost collided with her. No wonder she had refused to stay here, she was afraid to even walk in. He looked the place over and saw the clear signs of a struggle. Things were knocked over, broken, and the bags she had packed before Darren attacked her had been opened, clothes thrown around in Darren`s fit of rage when he left the shower and found her missing. Derek finally realized that she was frozen to the spot; no way was she setting foot inside there. So Derek gently pushed past her and started picking up the scattered clothes and throwing them into her bags as quickly as possible. He didn`t take the time to fold them, which made it harder to fit everything in. She didn`t have too much stuff though, so it worked. Derek picked up the bags and headed to the door.

"That it?" he asked.

"Think so," she said and finally turned away from the apartment, leading Derek back out to the rental car.

He put the bags in the back seat, started the car, and was about to put it in gear, when she reached over and put her arm around his neck, pulling his face toward her`s. She kissed him and he roped his arms around her, one hand on the back of her head to keep her there. This time she slipped her tongue into _his_ mouth to explore. He let her take control of the kiss, figuring that maybe she needed to feel in control right now. Finally she pulled away.

Breathlessly, she said, "Let`s get back to the hotel."

He nodded. They held hands the whole way there. Derek had to use every ounce of self control just to make sure he wasn`t visibly aroused. The team was at the hotel too, and he didn`t want to embarrass himself. It was a good thing he controlled himself too, because when they parked, Hotch was on the way out to his car. He stopped to tell Derek that the team was leaving for the airport in twenty minutes. Derek didn`t say much back, because he was so focused thinking about what would happen when he and Luella got up to their room. Derek and Hotch said goodbye; Hotch continued to his car and Derek picked up the bags and led the way to the room.

He didn`t even have time to put the bags down before she started pulling his shirt off. He dropped the bags where he stood by the door and helped her get his shirt off. She looked at his muscular build, clearly impressed. He was happy with that little boost of self-confidence. He started kissing her neck, and trailed kisses down to her cleavage. When he couldn`t go any further down because of her shirt, he roughly pulled it off. He didn`t waste any time before unclasping her bra. His heart stipped a beat as her large breasts were exposed. He looked at the tag on the bra briefly before going any further. DD. He smiled to himself before snapping back into reality. He took her left nipple in his mouth and sucked. She moaned loudly.

All of a sudden he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him. He carried her to the bed and gently laid her down, with him on top of her. She pushed her hips up toward him and rubbed against him, feeling that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him. He groaned and started to thrust, even though they were both still in their pants. She put her fingers in the waistband of his jeans and said in a needy voice, "Take them off." So he did. Luella gasped. So much bigger than anyone she`d ever been with before.

He smirked; another confidence booster. She kept staring for a moment, but then she gently pushed him off the bed. She slid down onto her knees in front of him. He looked down at her and struggled to keep his breathing calm. She licked his tip twice before wrapping her lips around him. His hands went down to her head and he pulled her closer, so she took more of him into her mouth. She sucked and licked, moving her head quickly, until he came into her mouth, and then she swallowed.

She stood up and he smiled at her. He`d spent a lot of time, especially in high school but lately too, imagining this. It was better than he had even imagined. He was about to push her back on the bed when there was a knock at the door. He groaned, and quickly pulled on his pants and shirt while Luella got dressed too. She sat on the bed as he walked to the door and opened it. It was JJ.

"Hey I just wanted to say goodbye and make sure Luella was ok after everything."

Luella nodded, "I`m just glad I have someone to stay with for a few nights. Thank you for everything," she got up and went to the door as she spoke and hugged JJ. She had never really been shy about showing affection towards people.

JJ smiled, "Ok, well we`re leaving, so I`ll see you back at Quantico Derek."

"Bye," he answered as she walked away, then closed the door and sat on the bed. Luella sat next to him.

"So you never told me where your dad went. I didn`t think he was the type to just leave.."

"He didn`t. Umm... he`s in a psychiatric facility. After my mom died, he kind of lost it."

"That was two years ago. He`s been gone for that long? Why didn`t you tell me?"

She looked sad, so he was almost sorry that he`d pushed, but then she started to speak again, "He thought that I was my mom. He... he didn`t know what he was doing, I mean he thought I was his wife..."

Derek shook his head, "He raped you."

She nodded. "He took the medication for a while, but once he realized what he`d done he was devistated, and now he won`t take any meds at all."

The rest of the night consisted of a lot of crying, and when she said that she felt like none of her friends would understand, so she didn`t tell them, he finally opened up about Buford. Finally they fell asleep in each other`s arms.

**A/N:**** Please review! I need to know if I should keep writing this or not. If you don`t want to review, then PM me and tell me what you think. Thanks!**


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